


One Person

by Ma_Kir



Category: Live A Live (Video Game)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-09
Updated: 2018-05-09
Packaged: 2019-05-04 08:54:15
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,889
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14589465
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ma_Kir/pseuds/Ma_Kir
Summary: As their adventure comes to an end, the knight Oersted tells his squire the real reason that he left Lucretia, and how important he truly was to him.





	One Person

It's been a long road, Squire.

We've had our share of adventures. No monster ever stood a chance against us. Robbers and bandits had even less against our swordsmanship, and our resolve. We've saved many lives, and if we're going to be honest with each other, we never lacked for food, and drink, and song, and the arms of a woman in a warm bed. I couldn't actually believe that this was our future, that we would actually journey together, that I would have a companion once again. It's almost like the old times, with my friends, with Straybow ...

No. You haven't heard that name in a long time. I didn't think you forgot it, of course. He was a hero. We both were. We did all of those things, and more, with fire and steel, spell and sword. It wasn't an easy life then, and it hasn't been an easy one now. 

I know. I'm glad you are here, at the end. To be honest, I don't really know where I'd be without you. I could sense, for the longest time, that you had questions. I was the Hero of Lucretia. I was one of its heroes. Why did I leave? Why do I possess the holy sword Brion, once wielded by Hash: the Hero before me? What happened to Straybow? 

And what happened to Princess Alicia on Devil's Peak?

You heard most of it already, my young friend. No doubt you were told that the Demon King stole Princess Alicia from the Castle, as he had her mother twenty years before. And I set out to rescue her, to bring her back as Hash and Uranus came for her mother, pregnant with her. It's true that, even then, like now I tried to do it all by myself. I didn't want to risk anyone else's life but my own in this venture against the fiend. But Straybow always knew my heart. After the tournament where we fought for prizes and the hand of the Princess herself, and I won, I thought to leave him: as we had briefly been foes, and it would not do to risk our friendship further -- his life -- to rescue another man's betrothed. But Straybow had none of it. He said I needed him. And it was true. I did. I needed his wisdom. His counsel.

It was Straybow that had us find the priest Uranus in his retirement in Familia Village. And together we found Hash, who had been embittered by the politics of the realm -- as you and I have encountered in many others -- and somehow convinced him to leave his hermitage and help us save Alicia. It was the right decision. We sought the experience of the heroes of old and with our help, we would do right by Lucretia.

After many battles, and hardships we made it to the Eastern Mountains, and then all the way towards Devil's Peak. This sword, here, unlocked the way for us. It had been, for all intents and purposes, relatively easy for us ... until ...

It's still hard to talk about it, even now, at the end: when I don't have much time left. 

We fought a Demon Lord and won. Barely. But Hash had been sick. He had the pox, and hid it from us: fighting valiantly towards the end. After the battle, he died before passing on this very sword to me -- and the secret: that the Demon Lord we destroyed was not the King of Demons. That meant he was somewhere in the Mountain. In our travels he told me to be careful. He didn't just talk about Demon Kings or monsters. He told me that the life of a Hero, a True Hero, is a hard one. He told me about the fickleness of men, of humanity, and history is never truly learned. That those that honoured and loved me today, could forget about me, or turn on me tomorrow. I didn't understand what those words meant. Then.

We tried to move on into Devil's Peak, into a strange chamber. And with the grief of Hash's death and our fear for Alicia weighing down on our shoulders, we tried to find a passage. There was a cave in. And Straybow was lost. 

My mentor and my best friend gone in one day. Up until that point, I had no idea what hardship had truly been.

Uranus and I went back to the Castle, to report and to gain reinforcements to try the Peak again. I woke up in my quarters in the barracks from an evil dream ... and I thought I saw Straybow at my bedside. I chased after him, half-asleep, still grieving, this apparition of my friend. And in the throne room, I found the King of Demons instead.

With Brion, I charged at him. I didn't hesitate. Hash and Straybow died because of this monster. Alicia was still his prisoner. I would not let him terrorize this realm again. And I cut him down, except ...

You know what happened. I killed the King. It is true. I killed the King of Lucretia, an innocent man just wanting his daughter to be safe. It was an illusion that bewitched me, that night. It was cast by the Demon King. The Chancellor and the guards didn't believe me. Of course, it sounded ludicrous. There was no proof. Nothing but my word, and Uranus: who hadn't even been there. The people had already lost their Princess, and now their King. Hash was dead. Straybow was gone. It was just myself and Uranus. We've been to enough towns and cities at this point, wandering this vast place, to know what happens when something terrible occurs to those beloved by their people, especially when they are rulers. And at least two murderers are caught practically red-handed.

I should have listened to Hash, about people's hearts that day. They turned on us. They didn't care about what we had accomplished or who we were. All they knew was that they had cut down their King in cold blood, I had killed him, and Uranus defended me. An example had to be made to retain order. The Chancellor was always an opportunist. I just didn't know it until Hash's warning and that damnable night.  

They captured us. We were questioned. You know exactly what that entails. They even tortured a holy man to death. Even then, he told me not to give up on humanity, on myself. Like Hash, Uranus wanted me to continue my duty as the new Hero. Despite Hash's embitterment, he remained a Hero to the very end: sacrificing his life in an attempt to save another's. Uranus attempted to save me, to even ask me to forgive his tormentors, from damnation. 

The rumours were true. I did break out, with Uranus' final act. I did cut down any guard and soldier in my way. I didn't want to. I asked them to yield. I pleaded with them. But they wouldn't stop and I got so angry ... I had to clear my name. I had to kill the real King of Demons. 

I had to save Princess Alicia.

Before she was taken, Alicia told me that she would always believe in me. I held on to that promise. I held on to that conviction. I slew soldiers, and monsters. As I came to the Mountain, the place was filled with monstrosities far worse than anything we had seen before. I fought all the way up there, alone, without my comrades, hated by the people that once loved, called a _Demon_ by them, even as the creatures there preyed on my mind: making me see how worthless I was, how weak I had truly been, how my humility was false, trying to make me detest women such as Alicia ... But I fought on until I reached the top and discovered that there was another entrance.

I came to the top of Devil's Peak that night. 

No. It's all right. I have to tell this story. I have to see it to the end. You need to know what happened, and why I did what I ultimately did. I owe it to you, after all of your dedication to me despite everything that was said about me, despite what happened in Lucretia, then, and afterwards. There was a cavern with carving of the King of Demons. And stepping out of that cavern ... was Straybow.

It still hurts, even now. At first, I didn't understand what happened. How he had survived. I was so glad to see him. But there was a power around him, a mystic force that even with his Arts I'd never seen him possess. And then, he told me the truth. He told me he had set off a trap in the Mountain to falsify his own death. He told me that he had learned to master the power of the Demon King's Mountain: that he had his power now. He told me that he had cast the illusion on my mind: one that made me slay the King. I couldn't believe it. I didn't want to believe it. He told me that throughout all of our time together, he had always felt lesser, second-best, frail and eclipsed by me. He said that I made him feel weak and pathetic, that he wanted the Princess' hand, that he just wanted to best me in one thing ... I remember that hate in his eyes along with his power. 

It broke me. My best friend, my brother, telling me that I had belittled him his whole life: so much so he had been willing to destroy mine. I had no idea he possessed this spite inside of him. I fell to my knees. I asked for his forgiveness. I told him I was sorry. But he had none of it. He was going to kill me. And he was going to use the power of the Demon King to take over Lucretia, or destroy it. I know not. All I know is that I had to stop him.

And I did.

I remember feeling so ... hollow. So empty. His corpse just glared up at me. Even in death, he still hated me. But ... even so ... I did my duty. I slew the King of Demons: one who had used its power. And now I could find Alicia. I could take her out of this place. Perhaps even her word, against the maddened rabble, wouldn't be enough and especially not with the Chancellor having assumed the power he always wanted. I was going to go into the cave ...

And Alicia came out of it.

No. No it is not time yet, Squire. I still have so much more to say. I thought the illusion surrounding the King had been painful. I thought the illusion surrounding what my friendship became with Straybow had hurt. 

Alicia fell on her knees in front of Straybow. And her eyes, when they looked up at me, were full of hatred. She cradled him in her arms. She said that he told me I'd never came looking for her, that I'd ran away, that I killed her father. She said that Straybow had found her instead, that he had always felt lesser than me, that I had always beaten him ... how she loved him. How she related to the fact that he had always lost. She spat at me, this woman I loved, this woman who I thought would always be at my side, even in exile. I was speechless. Every word of denial died in my throat. On my tongue. It was only at the end that she said I didn't know what it was like to lose.

I didn't see her knife. She took it and ... 

They lay on top of each other like broken toys, in cloth and blood. My best friend and my betrothed. I kept thinking, looking down at them, cold and distant that as long as one person believed in me, it would be worth it. I would be saved. The last illusion, of humanity, broke in my mind. I saw things clearly for the first time. I saw just how arbitrary and mindless people could be. That they were little better than opportunistic animals. I saw how brothers could turn against brothers. People against their heroes and their gods. And just how meaningless a promise meant to a friend, or a lover, at the very end of things.

I ... grew angry. I was furious. No one knew my heart. No one knew what I had done, what I had sacrificed, to save the innocent, to save the realm, to save the people I loved. But I had no Kingdom now. I had no people. I killed my best friend who betrayed me. And the woman I loved spurned me for his lies. Her words, at the Castle, meant nothing. There was no meaning in anything. A fury I'd never known roared through me. I wanted to make them pay. I wanted to make them all I pay. I ...

No. It is not physical pain, my young friend. It is an old wound that never truly healed. And it was ready to consume me. All I had to do was go into that cave. And I did. 

I went in.

... What I found in the Cave at the top of Devil's Peak, walking past all of those twisted statues and the lives of my best friend and my betrothed, was ... nothing. There was only darkness in there. There was no Demon King. No dark power. 

It was just me. 

I was utterly alone.

And that was when I realized what the King of Demons actually is. It is every selfish, cold, manipulative, furious, bestial instinct: the herd instinct for the call of blood, and the fear that makes others follow any story. It is the beast that makes someone betray a comrade, or murder a loved one, or steal to gain power. It is vengeance. It is murder. It is nihilism. It is bereftness.

It was in there, that I wept. I wept for my people who had been consumed by their violence. I wept for my brother who let hatred get the best of him. I wept for my Alicia ... my poor Alicia, the only woman I ever truly loved, who died cursing my name. 

And I wept for myself. Because I couldn't go back again.

I buried them in the Naori Grass when I came out of that Cave, down the Mountain, far from the Kingdom. No monsters or creatures plagued me that night. Perhaps they too were afraid of me. I said a prayer for them. And for the King. And for Uranus and Hash. And then, I was prepared to leave. There was nothing left for me here, now. My dreams were destroyed. I didn't want to live on in anger and hatred.

The truth, Squire, is that a King of Demons exists in everyone. I was supposed to vanquish him. To destroy my demon. I failed. My failure became my demon. My anger and loss howled inside of me.

I just wanted it to end.

I came to the borders of the Kingdom. Even though I'd planned to visit Hash's cottage, his hermitage where he falsified his own death to get away from Lucretia, for reasons I now understood all too well, I couldn't part with Brion. It was the only good, pure thing I had left: even if lies forced me to stain its sanctity. I was all but ready to profane the blade, one last time, with my own blood -- through my heart -- when you found me.

The monsters ... I'd wondered where they had gone. Without anyone to control them, they massed and came upon the Kingdom. I saw them attacking: killing men, women, and children. I didn't hesitate. Even after everything, I went back and tried to save them. I must have destroyed countless creatures that night, but ... I was just one person against that much evil. But ... I saved you. I cut down the two monsters around you, and I rescued you. I finally saved someone. 

I remember you from Familia Village. You were the young potter's son. And I remember you saying to me, then, that you never believed the lies, that your parents, that the villagers and all of Lucretia was wrong. That I was a Hero. 

At last, one person ... one person believed in me.

Even after all this time, and the violence Brion has seen, you have never left my side. 

And now. It is time. 

The last illusion, of life, is gone. We must go back. Space and time is a vast place, my young friend. The mind is even deeper. I remember now. I must return to Hash's Cottage. I must leave the sacred blade, Brion, on his true grave: the one I made for him. And then ... there are so many monsters. So much darkness. 

We must prepare. Lucretia has been lonely for long enough. You will return to your family. And I will go back to the place where this all began, and wait for the new heroes to arrive. I promised humanity that I would teach them a lesson.

And I intend to keep my promise. 


End file.
